


The itsy-bitsy spider and his big family

by TheLadyConstellation



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Bucky Barnes gives relationship advice, Bucky Barnes has seizures, F/M, Flash Thompson Being A Jerk, IronDad and SpiderSon, It's a lot of fluff, Kid Peter, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Pepper Potts is a mother figure to Peter, Peter Parker has epilepsy, Peter gets bullied for his parents, Peter has a crush on Michelle, Protective Tony Stark, Steve and Tony seperated, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers Co-Parent, Tony is a great dad, non-canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21620671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyConstellation/pseuds/TheLadyConstellation
Summary: Peter Parker has a huge family. There's Dad and Pop. But Dad has a girlfriend and Pop has Bucky. And there's uncle Rhodey and Uncle Bruce and Aunt Natasha. What about his mom and dad that died in a plane crash? Why did that plane go down?But Peter still got a crazy life, and a field trip to the New York science lab just made it a bit crazier....
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, past Steve Rogers/Tony Stark - Relationship
Kudos: 49





	1. A kid named Peter

**Author's Note:**

> This is an au where Steve woke up around 2001/2002 and was in a relationship with Tony. They adopted Peter in 2005, when he was a baby. Tony and Steve seperated after the events of Age of Ultron. And for reasons, the Sokovia Accords and Civil War never happened. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!

“Peter remember, Papa’s taking you home from school today!” Tony shouted up the stairs. He was spreading peanut butter on bread and putting it into the lunch sack. His twelve year old ran down the stairs, one shoe on. Tony was just about to yell at him to not fall down the stairs again, but he caught his fall. 

“Ooh, are you going on a date with Pepper tonight?” Peter asked in a sing-songy voice. He began to pack his bookbag. 

“Peter it’s a Friday, you always go to Papa’s house on Fridays. And if you’re asking, yes I do have a date with Pepper tonight.” Peter made kissy sounds as his dad groaned. Why are kids like this, he thought. 

“Tell her that I said hi. And that I think her hair is pretty.” He sat at the island counter, right in front of his Dad. 

“Peter I need to talk to you.” 

“What?” 

“Papa’s going to have someone with him today when he picks you up,” Tony said. His voice was sad. Peter didn’t know why. 

“Who?” 

“His name is James, he’s your Papa’s friend. He’s not dangerous, but he can be a little scary.” 

“Is he Papa’s friend like Pepper is your friend.” Tony nodded. Peter started eating his cereal. 

“That’s fine.” Peter didn’t really care about it. He was going to Papa’s house and Papa has a Wii and PlayStation. He didn’t really care if there was another guy in the car. “As long as they don’t kiss! Ew!” Peter made vomiting sounds that made his dad laugh. 

It was times like this that Tony was glad that they moved out of the Tower before they adopted him. Tony and Steve wanted their kid to be raised like a normal kid and not in a tower with all the other avengers. They bought a regular house, but they weren’t a regular family. Well, they split up a few years ago, so they got even less normal then. Peter didn’t really understand at the time. His Dad just told him that Dad and Papa were going to live in different houses. He wasn’t really fazed until a year earlier when he was eleven. He was staying at his Dad’s house when Tony called him down to meet someone. There was a redhead lady that he had met before. He didn’t’ remember where though. After a little bit, he realized that she was the nice lady that Dad was dancing with at the Christmas party. That was after his Papa had moved out. 

Tony said that her name was Pepper and she and Dad were spending a lot of time together. He had to ask if she was his girlfriend. She blushed and said yes. Peter hugged her for a little too long. 

“Did you remember to do all your homework?” Tony asked, finishing the lunches. Peter nodded. He got his school ID off the table and clipped it to his pants. STARK-ROGERS, PETER P, the ID read. Next to it was an awkward picture of him that was taken so quickly he barely smiled. Tony opened a sharpie with his teeth and wrote names on the bags. He handed Peter his. The kid looked inside. 

“Dad, when will you stop putting notes in my lunch?” He whined. Tony just laughed and put his hands on his boy’s shoulders. 

“As long as you are my son, you will have little notes in your lunch.” He kissed Peter’s cheek lovingly and put his own shoes on, ready to leave the house. “Put your shoes on, we’re leaving in five minutes.” Peter jumped off of the stool, straightened his glasses, and slipped his shoes on. He grabbed his book bag and lunch sack. 

“I’m ready!” Peter said. Tony nodded, rubbed his curly hair and grabbed the keys to the car. He got in the driver’s seat and Peter in the passengers. It was 7:30 and they were leaving for school. 

“So what’s on the agenda today?” Peter asked. 

“Well, I’m working with uncle Bruce in the prosthetics department and then teaching a class at Columbia. It’s a new thing I’m doing. It’s about engineering and philanthropy and stuff. 

“Sounds super cool to me. I wish I could do science with you and uncle Bruce instead of going to school.” 

“Hey kid, now school is important. I went to high school and got a college degree. I may have taken it for granted back then, but I’m very thankful that I could go to college at MIT. And you need to go to college too.” Peter rolled his eyes. For being twelve years old, he sure got a lot of ‘get an education’ speeches from his dad. 

“I know Dad, I’ll go to college as long as you aren’t my professor.” Tony laughed. A couple of moments later they arrived at Peter’s middle school. 

“I’ll see you on Sunday. Love you.” Peter smiled and left the car. He slung his backpack around his shoulder and waved goodbye. Tony took off. He drove to the Avengers compound. Once he arrived he went straight to one of his and Bruce’s labs. They were working on their prosthetics project. They were ready to roll out some simple stuff, fingers, and toes, but not entire limbs yet. He took his jacket off and opened the door. 

James Barnes was sitting on a chair with his left arm outstretched. Bruce was poking at it and learning about how it worked. 

“Morning Tony,” Bruce said, the first to greet him. Tony replied with the same. 

“I told Peter that someone would be with his Pops when he picks him up,” Tony said, flicking Barnes. “He’s not worried. He met Pepper a whole year ago. I bet if it weren’t for him to be so nervous he would start calling her Mom.” 

“I don’t want to scare him, Tony.” Bucky was very worried, the kid has never seen anyone with a metal arm before. 

“You won’t scare him, and I’m sure Steve’s told you about how great he is. Smart kid, really smart kid.” Steve nodded. They both had his report cards on their fridges. Tony pulled up a chair and a hologram and continued working on the bionic arm project. 

\-- 

Peter was officially bored. He was sitting in his history class, barely listening. They were talking about World War Two, which he knew all about from his weekends at Papa’s house. The teacher began to speak. 

“Does anyone know what the name of the scientist who invented the super-soldier serum’s name was?” Peter rolled his eyes and raised his hand. Another girl also raised her hand. The teacher called her name. 

“Howard Stark?” Peter’s grandfather. He obviously never met him, but even he knew that Howard didn’t invent the serum. 

“Not quite, would you like to help her out Peter?” 

“Doctor Abraham Erskine,” he said in a monotone voice. The teacher smiled. 

“That’s right, I wonder how you got that one, Peter. Doctor Erskine invented the serum…” As everyone’s heads turned, Peter covered his nametag. Not everyone in his school knew who his second dad was. Not that he was embarrassed, but he didn’t need everyone to know. He spent the rest of the class in Peter-land, not giving a care in the world. The bell rang and he left class, keeping his head down. 

“Hey, Peter!” His friend Ned ambushed him. They did their handshake. “How was history, I was already there. I can feel your embarrassment.” 

“Oh, it sucked. I just hope that no one sees him pick me up today. Dad can’t take me to Pop’s house, so he’s picking me up himself.” 

“Awesome! I mean, not awesome if everyone sees.” Peter shrugged. 

“You want to hang out sometime this weekend? We could watch Star Wars at my Pop’s house! He has all the DVDs.” 

“That sounds cool, I’ll tell my mom,” Ned said. They walked to their next class. Science, Peter’s favorite. They sat in their regular seats, right next to each other. 

“Hello, class. I have some great news about this year’s field trip! The results are in and this year our seventh-grade science classes will be going to New York Science Center! We will be seeing many of the projects that the scientists are working on. If you would just get a parent or guardian to sign this permission slip, we will be going in one week” 

“Awesome! I can’t wait. That’s what I voted for!” Peter said. The same phrase is heard around the classroom. The teacher passed around the permission slips. Peter immediately put it in his backpack. He made a mental note to look up the projects in the labs when he got home. “This field trip is going to be so much better than our fifth-grade class trip to the zoo,” Peter said to his friend. Ned agreed. 

“That really sucked. Especially the part where we got lost and they had to send out the zoo police and they called your dad. That sucked,” Ned said in the most monotone voice possible. Peter rolled his eyes, but on the inside, he remembered that terrible field trip. 

The rest of the day was ordinary. Listen to the teacher, get homework, do homework, and be bored. He was almost relieved when the bell rang at 2:45. He grabbed his bag and ran out to the car pick up line. There were his Pop and a guy with long hair in the front seat. He opened the door to the back seat and climbed in. 

“Hey Pete, your dad told you that Bucky was going to be with us?” Peter nodded. He looked forward to the man in the front seat. 

“Hi, I’m Peter.” 

“I know who you are. I’m James, but you can call me Bucky,” he said. “Your Pops tells me a lot about you, how smart you are, and how much you like science. Just like your dad, and your grandfather.” 

“You knew Grandpa Howard?” Peter was shocked. He only heard about his Grandpa from his parents. He could see Bucky frowning. 

“Yeah, I knew your Grandpa. He was a pretty cool guy. Was just like your Dad,” Steve put his hand over Bucky’s hand comfortingly. He mouthed something that Peter didn’t see. Peter looked out the window, watching the passing trees. They went further into suburban New York, towards Steve’s house. 

“Hey, I have this permission slip for our class field trip. I need you to sign it.” 

“Where are you going?” 

“New York Science Laboratories. Pretty cool right?” Peter said. His Dad rolled his eyes. 

“You know that your Dad works in a lab every day right? Your other Dad, and well this one. But mainly that one,” Bucky said awkwardly. 

“I know, but the New York Labs are like, huge, and I’ve never been there. Where I go to the Avengers HQ all the time. 

“Good point,” Steve said. Just a couple seconds later they pulled into the driveway. Peter grabbed his backpack and kicked over the cinderblock, grabbing the key and unlocking the door. Peter ran to throw his backpack on his bed. 

“Hi, Alpine!” Peter said to the cat who had situated herself on Peter’s bed. He picked her up, carrying her back to the kitchen. He put her on the kitchen counter. She stretched her body out and crawled into Bucky’s arms. “How long has she been living here?” 

“While I was at the Tower she stayed with me. But now that I’m here, she came with.” He pets her, the cat wiggling around in his arms. Peter slid his Dad the permission slip. He signed it S. Rogers. 

“Hey Pete, you gonna join the academic decathlon team? You’re old enough now,” Steve said. 

“I don’t know, it’s a lot.” 

“You’re like, super smart. I see your report card every morning when I get milk. You are amazing. You join that academic whatever and win,” Bucky said. 

“Thank you, Mr. Bucky.” Peter reached for an apple on the table, but his vision got all fuzzy. He took his glasses off and cleaned them. He didn’t realize that he was blinking profusely. 

“You okay bud?” His Dad asked. 

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be fine?” His voice faded out and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. His body went limp and flopped to the ground. Steve ran to his side and propped his head up. 

“Bucky, go to the medicine cabinet and grab his pouch, it has his name on it,” Steve yelled. Steve put his hand on Peter’s shoulder to stop him from convulsing. Bucky came back with the pouch “Shit, give me his medicine.” Bucky handed him a vial and syringe. Steve rubbed Peter’s cheek while filling it up. He put the medicine in through his stomach. 

“Is he okay?” 

“Yeah, just help me get him in bed. He has epilepsy Sometimes he has seizures. We have to give him some medicine to stop the nerve pain and sedate him, but he’ll be out for a while.” Steve put the covers over his son’s limp body. He put his hand on Peter’s cheek. “We need to call Tony.” Bucky nodded, grabbed Steve’s phone, and dialed the number. 

“Steve?” 

“Yeah everything is fine, but Peter had a seizure.”

“What! Did you give him the medicine? Is he breathing? Do I need to call an ambulance-” 

“He’s fine. I gave him the medicine and he’s in bed. He’s fine. I just wanted to let you know, have fun with Pepper!” He hung up. He was still sitting by Peter. He sighed and ran his hand through the kid’s little curls. Steve didn’t notice Bucky standing in the doorway. 

“I’m sorry Steve, I didn’t know that he had problems.” 

“That’s the worst part. Everything else has fewer surprises. His ADHD just makes him distracted and full of energy all the time. Epilepsy is more unpredictable. But he’s fine other than that, he just has some seizures, not too severe. He’s only been in the hospital a couple of times.” Steve sighed and got into the bed next to him. Peter had a queen bed, and his Dad and now his Dad’s boyfriend were laying in it with him. 

“I know how much you love him. He’s your kid.” Bucky kissed Steve’s cheek. “If you don’t mind me asking… What was it like when you adopted him?” 

“Well we were looking for a while, and nothing was happening. Even with all of the connections we have, but then the plane crashed. Almost everyone died, because of the mysterious circumstances of the crash, it was in the hands of SHIELD. We got a call in the middle of the night. Two of the people who died had a two-month-old baby. We came right into the triskelion and saw this tiny baby, an orphan. We obviously fell in love with me, or else we wouldn’t be here.” Steve put his hand in Peter’s hair again. 

“Didn’t he have a family?” 

“Yeah, but not much. The only person who wasn’t on that plane was an aunt. But she was deemed ‘unfit to raise’. She lived in a tenement in Queens. The courts wouldn’t give him to her. She signed the papers for the adoption. She hasn’t reached out to us.” 

“He’s got a family, but I have to ask. Was it the other guy that shot down the plane?” 

“We don’t think so, SHIELD closed the case. It was HYDRA, but no, it wasn’t him.” Bucky sighed in relief. He was already filled with guilt about Howard and Maria, and he couldn’t take making another person an orphan. They got out of the bed to give Peter some space. 

\- 

“Dad?” Steve ran to Peter’s bedroom, kneeling at his side. 

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” 

“When did I go to sleep? I don’t remember going to bed.

“Honey you collapsed. You had a seizure, you’re okay now.” Peter put his head in Steve’s shoulder. 

“I’m sorry, did you tell Dad?” Steve nodded and hugged him. Peter was back to his regular self now. 

“Where did Mr. Bucky go?” 

“He’s in the living room. Maybe we can play Mario Kart together?” Peter got out of bed, but not too fast. Steve grabbed his hand to keep him slow. He helped him sit down in the living room. Bucky turned on the switch and they started playing. Of course, Peter won almost every time. 

“Why are you so good at this Peter?” 

“Because I’ve been playing this since I was a kid, you guys are like old.” 

“I don’t know if you mean that because I spent seventy years on ice or that I’m your dad.” 

“A bit of both,” Peter laughed. “Hey, can Ned come over this weekend to watch Star Wars?” 

“Absolutely! I love those movies. I will watch them with you,” Bucky said. Peter laughed. 

“Ned will freak out if another Avenger is at my house.” 

“I’m an Avenger?” 

“Yeah. I mean, you lived at the compound for a whole year and you work with my dads. You’re an Avenger, right Dad?” 

“Of course you’re an Avenger.” Steve tipped his head down and kissed Bucky’s cheek. 

“Ew!” Peter shrieked. The guys just laughed. Peter grabbed his phone and texted Ned. 

Told Dad it’s on, and someone’s going to be watching with us!!!

Kewl. I’ll be there

The next day Peter was getting out all of the popcorn in the house. Meanwhile, he and Bucky were getting to know each other quite well. 

“So why do you have a metal arm?” 

“These bad guys took me after I fell from really high up. They put a metal arm on me and kept me. Have you heard of the Winter Soldier? That was me, well not really. They messed up my head and made me do bad stuff. I tried to run away from them and your Pops over there found me. I was squatting somewhere near our old place in Brooklyn when he found me asleep on the ground. He brought me in and blah blah blah we are here.”

“Did you have to go to jail? Like for the bad stuff that the bad people made you do.” Bucky shook his head. 

“I went to court and they found me not guilty. But that didn’t mean I didn’t do the bad stuff. I still did, but I was something called exonerated. They put me on house arrest for my own safety. They wanted to make sure that I was okay. And now I’m here.” 

“Did Alpine stay with you?” Peter said in a little kid voice, holding up the cat. She wiggled herself free from Peter’s grasp. The cat jumped across the table to Bucky and wiggled into his grasp instead. 

“Obviously.” He pets the cat’s head, earning a nice little purr from the feline. He put her down, kissing her on the head. Steve walked in, carrying a set of DVDs and blankets. 

“When is he coming?” 

“A couple of minutes and he might be bringing Michelle with him.” 

“Who’s Michelle?” Steve said. Bucky was behind him making ‘oooh’ noises. 

“Michelle’s our new friend from school. We call her MJ. She likes Star Wars.” 

“That’s fine, as long as you two don’t get up to anything,” Steve said with a wink. Bucky, on the other hand, was sweating bullets. What if one of the kids knew about the Winter Soldier. What if Bucky hurt one of their parents, or something worse. 

“Bucky, it’s okay. I know what you are thinking right now and it will be fine. They are just going to watch Star Wars. If anything, I have the most to worry about, I mean does Michelle know who your dad is?” 

“No,” Peter said. Now Peter was worried. He hated seeing people’s reactions to his little ‘secret.’ 

“Are you okay with your friend finding out?” Steve said. He knew first hand how anxious Peter can get about people knowing. 

“Yeah, I guess. She’s pretty cool. She’ll act like she doesn’t care.” Bucky smiled and patted Peter’s back. Steve threw the blankets and pillows onto the couch, making a comfy area for the kids. 

“Which order are you going to watch them in?” Bucky asked. 

“We’re just going to watch the originals, no prequels for us today!” Steve made a woop noise. 

“Trust me they are better, Bucky have you seen Star Wars? I’m sure I’ve watched it with you at some point.” Bucky shook his head. 

“I don’t think I have watched them.” Peter made a shocking sound that was mostly a joke. Mostly. The doorbell rang. Steve went to answer it and saw Ned standing at the doorstep. 

Ned and Peter went to Elementary School together which made his transition to Midtown much easier. Ned was the only person he knew, and the only person who really knew him. During the day he preferred to be called by his middle name. No one called him Peter Stark, Peter Rogers, or Peter Stark-Rogers. Everyone called him by his first and second names. At school, he was Peter Parker. 

“Hey, Ned!” Steve said. Ned gave him a high five. Ned hadn’t met Bucky before though. 

“Who’s this.” Ned pointed to Bucky. 

“This is Bucky, Dad’s boyfriend. He’s an Avenger too.” 

“Cool! I’m Ned.” Bucky shook his hand. Ned stared down at the metal arm in shock. 

“It’s fine, he just lost his arm to bad guys.” 

“Cool. Michelle is coming. She doesn’t know, does she?” Peter shook his head. The microwave beeped, signally the end of the popcorn bag. Bucky grabbed it out of the microwave, using his metal arm to good use. Right on cue, the doorbell rang. 

“Can I answer it?” Steve asked. Peter nodded. He may hate when people find out, but Michelle is different. Steve opened the door, Peter was a couple of feet away. He waved. 

“Are you?” Michelle was lost for words. 

“Peter’s Dad? Then yes. If you are asking if I am Captain America, the answer is also yes.” 

“I didn’t know that your dad was… You just told me you were adopted when you were a baby. You didn’t tell me you were adopted by Captain freakin America!” Peter was laughing now. Most people would laugh at him. Michelle was just shocked. 

“Okay, the secret’s out. This is my Dad. My last name isn’t Parker, my last name is Stark-Rogers.” 

“Stark? Your mom...Dad. Oh my god, your dad is Tony Stark!” Peter laughed and nodded. “That’s cool. Let’s watch Star Wars.” Michelle took her shoes off and placed them next to the rest of them. In her mind, all she could think was oh my god those are Captain America’s shoes, and those are the Winter Soldier’s shoes! 

The kids ran to the living room and started eating the popcorn before they even put the DVD in. Bucky sat down on the couch with the kids while Steve put the disc in. 

“Do you ever put magnets on your arm?” Michelle said suddenly. 

“What?” Bucky had never heard anyone ask this before. 

“Like do you ever put your to-do list on there.” 

“I guess, sometimes Steve writes the grocery list on it.” Steve blushed. He did not expect Bucky to tell practically a stranger about such a quirk. The kids started laughing. Steve shushed them because the movie was starting. 

About halfway through A New Hope, Bucky spoke, “I can see why you like these movies.” Steve laughed. He remembered watching them with Natasha. He got all weepy because ‘Luke looks like Bucky.’ It took Nat a hot second to calm him back down after that. 

It felt like moments, but in fact, it was hours until the movies were over. The final credits played and Bucky found himself lying across the couch, his feet on Steve’s lap. 

“Those were pretty good,” Bucky said as he finished off the rest of the popcorn. 

“You guys can hang out in Peter’s room for a while if you want,” Steve said. The kids got up and ran to the back of the house. Of course, Ned knew where he was going, but Michelle was following behind. 

“MJ, this is the Peter cave. This is my Nintendo and this is my bookshelf, pretty much it. Oh and these are some of my Legos. Some of them are at my Dad’s house though.” Michelle observed the giant sets of Legos, two tables. As Ned explained one table was for playing, The Lego City and the other was the art gallery, fancy stuff. 

“We’re working on a Star Destroyer right now.” Peter pointed to the bare bones of a Star Destroyer Lego Set.

“Cool. I like the Eiffel Tower.” That one took Ned and Peter a month and a half. 

“Thanks, we’re proud of it. Steve didn’t even help us with that one.” He didn’t, they had to tell him so many times that they didn’t need help. Ned flopped onto Peter’s bed. Peter remembered the events of the day before, the last thing he remembered was getting a snack and then he woke up in his bed. 

“Ned, I had a seizure yesterday. Again.” Ned looked sad, he was there when Peter had his first seizure at school. It scared the hell out of the guy. That was before Peter got emergency medication. He was in a lot of pain from that, he couldn’t go to school the whole week. He wasn’t even discharged from the hospital for three days. 

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I slept a lot. The medicine makes it a lot easier.” Net put his hand around Peter’s shoulder and hugged him. He heard a scream from the other end of the house, it was Steve.


	2. Shaky Things and Sparkly Rings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky has a seizure and Peter has to help him while they are in the back seat of Steve's mom van and Tony brings up something that Peter has been waiting for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one may be a little bit shorter than the first, but something pretty cool is coming in the next chapter

Peter ran into the open room and saw Bucky convulsing on the ground. Steve picked him up. He saw Peter watching.

“Peter we need to get to the Tower Compound, get your friends. Get in the car.” Steve carried Bucky out to the car and laid him out in the backseat. Peter got Michelle and Ned. “Buddy I need you to sit with Bucky, put your hands on his shoulders like this.” Steve showed Peter how to control Bucky’s convulsions.

“Peter, what’s happening?” Ned asked.

“I think he’s having a seizure. We’re taking him to the Avenger’s compound.” m

“I would usually be excited to go to the Avengers compound with you, but I’m worried that he’s not okay,” Ned said from the back seat of Steve’s mini-van. Steve was driving at a speed that was definitely too fast. He started to call Tony.

“Tony, Bucky’s having a seizure. I’m bringing him in. Is Cho there? Yeah, he was just standing there and then he collapsed and started shaking.”

“Pop, why can’t we just give him my medicine?”

“That medicine is for you, and we don’t know how it will affect him. It could hurt him more than it helps him. Just keep your hands on him, we’ll be at the compound in a couple of minutes.” Steve was driving insanely fast. If there was a cop on the road they would be done for, but thankfully country roads aren’t well patrolled.

“How long do I usually do this for?”

“A couple of minutes, not much different from him. Your medicine usually puts you to sleep though.” Peter could see the compound appearing closer and closer as the went on. A few seconds later they sped into the driveway a gurney with Cho’s many doctors and nurses flew out of the doors. They put Bucky on the gurney and rolled him into the med bay. Tony was right behind them.

“Peter, are you okay?” Tony brought his kid into his arms.

“I’m feeling better. Can we get Michelle a pass? Ned has one.”

“Michelle? Were they back there the whole time? I’m sorry you guys had to see that.” The other two kids jumped out of the back seat.

“The doctor has him now. He’ll be fine.” Tony didn’t stop hugging Peter. Every time Peter had a seizure, Tony gets so worried. He never wants to let go, worried that he won’t survive the next one.

“Let’s go up to my room, It’s at the top. You’ll need a visitor’s pass. Dad?” They walked inside, the glass lobby impressing those who hadn’t seen it before.

“Friday? Can you get a background check for an Alpha level pass for Michelle Jones? She’s Peter’s friend.”

“Right away boss.”

“Thanks Dad, we’ll be in my room.” The kids went up in the elevator, the boys scanning their passes while Michelle had to make do with a visitor Alpha level.

“This is the floor that I sometimes live on. But most of the Avengers live here. Ned has met some of them. Sometimes Pops isn’t staying at his house, or the same for dad. Then I am here.” Peter opened the door to his room, right next to Clint’s.

“This is amazing, I mean Hawkeye is literally your roommate.”

“First, I don’t always live here. Second, he lives over there. And third, sharing a wall with him is fun because he can’t hear it when my music is loud.” MJ looked unsurprisingly confused. Ned explained.

“Clint’s deaf.” Not many people knew that. It wasn’t something that the Avengers went around flaunting. He has hearing aids but hates wearing them. He can read lips, but most of the Avengers know sign language, including Peter. Peter and Ned also had some of their legos stashed at the compound, mainly the ones themed around The Avengers. Their best one was always on display in The Avengers Museum on the first floor of the compound. Ned was showing MJ some of their works in progress. Peter looked to the door where Clint was standing. Clint began to sign.

“Who is this girl? Is she your woman? I believe you are too young for romance young Peter.” Peter rolled his eyes and signed back.

“This is Michelle my F-R-I-E-N-D.” Peter made sure to fingerspell the word friend for extra emphasis.

“I’ll keep my eyes on you, and no kissing,” Clint signed back. He left the room, but Peter assumed that he was right outside, ready to pounce.

“Do you have a favorite Avenger, Peter?” MJ asked. A fair question, but Peter hadn’t thought about it before.

“Other than my Dads, probably Clint or Aunt Nat.” The voice of Friday rang through the room.

“Peter, Sergeant Barnes is awake. Your father wants you in the med bay. I will keep an eye on your friends.”

“They are fine, Friday, Tell him I’ll be down right away,” Peter said goodbye to his friends and headed to the elevator, taking it down to the medbay. He was met by both of his parents.

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah, Helen told us that if his head wasn’t properly supported then he could have died. That was you, Peter. You saved his life,” Steve said. Peter finally taking a good look at him, he was a wreck.

“What?”

“In the car, you held down his head and shoulders, that kept his head stable. You saved him,” Tony said. Peter’s dad pulled him into a hug. “Why don’t you say hi.” Peter nodded and went to Bucky’s bedside.

“Mr. Bucky?” To Peter’s eyes, the man looked like he was barely awake. Bucky grabbed Peter’s hand.

“You did good kid. Steve- Pops told me what you did-``he started coughing. Steve gave him some water. “Thank you.” Doctor Cho spoke up.

“We are going to sedate him, just so we can give his body rest while we run tests. I’m going to put the IV in now, okay Sergeant Barnes?” Bucky nodded and closed his eyes while the IV went in and a cool liquid filled his body.

I remember this place. This movie theatre. I am from Brooklyn, but I wasn’t born here. I was born somewhere else. I can’t remember now, but it will come to be. I reach into the backpack and open the notebook. I flip to one of the first pages. There is a clipping from a World War Two Memorial for Steve Rogers and the Howling Commandos from the fifties.

James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes. Born in Shelbyville, Indiana in 1917. He and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1922. He met Steve Rogers on their first day of Kindergarten. In 1941 James was drafted into the U.S military. For four years he fought alongside Captain America and the Howling Commandos. James died from a fall in the Alps mountains, nobody was recovered.

Shelbyville. It’s the little things you never remember. But this alley. It was right after I got my orders for the 107th. Steve was in a fight. I saved his ass, of course, but this movie theatre. We used to go see movies here. I flip through the notebook to another one of my journal entries.

1937, March?  
Me and Steve went to see Snow White. I thought that I was too old to see a cartoon. I told him once we got home that he was Snow White and I was the Prince. We danced all night.

That was it. This was the theatre that I and Steve saw Snow White in. Then a couple of years later he went to see a movie and tried to beat up a guy in this alley. I reach into my pocket. I have some money left, I’ll have to find a way to make more. But I want to remember more. More of the old stuff, the really old stuff. I grab seven dollars and buy a ticket to a random film. I sit in the seat.

A moment in the movie the two leads begin to kiss. The first thought in my mind, Steve. I used to touch him like that. That’s what I would do. I would run my hands up his chest and kiss his cheek.

“Faggots,” the man in front of me whispered. I felt a burning rage in my chest. I couldn’t take it. No one could say that. Everyone would say that in the forties. It was normal, but now it’s a slur. I can’t take someone talking about someone like that, and Steve…

After the movie was over I track him with my own eyes. I push him into the alleyway. I use my right hand to deck him in the face. He ducks. He grabs my hands and kicks me right in the chest. He takes me to the ground and kicked me in the face.

“I bet you’re one of them too.” He spits and walks away. I lay moaning on the ground. Once I ran away I made an oath to never use my metal arm as a weapon. They put that on me to kill. And I won’t kill again.

I must have fallen asleep because I opened my eyes and he’s there. Maybe I died. I haven’t seen him in a year, how could he ever find me. I look up at his face and touch his cheek.

“Steve…”

“Bucky? Is that you?”

“Am I dead?”

“No, you’re not dead.” I smile, He was kneeling down by me. He put his hand on my face too. I leaned up and put my lips to his. I could feel him almost kiss back.

“Bucky, I’m engaged.” He held up a gold band on his finger. I feel my own face burn. I stumble to my feet. I move my glove to cover my hand and run. Before I could even get out of the alley he grabbed my arm.

“Bucky, I need to take you to the new Avengers Compound.”

“No… They’re going to lock me up. They are going to call me a murderer, Steve…”

“They aren’t.” He picked me up off the ground and put me in a car. We were silent the whole way there.

Steve brought me to this tower. He laid me down on something. A couch? A bed? I don’t even know. I heard voices around.

“How the hell did you find him? We spend all year looking for this guy and you just find him on the street!” Who is yelling? It’s so loud. Maybe I’ll just close my eyes….

“Steve…” Bucky said, coming out of a long sleep. Well, he didn’t know how long.

“Yeah sweetheart, it’s me. You’re awake now. They ran some tests on you and found out why you had a seizure. It was the stuff Hydra did to the Winter Soldier. If you remember, and you said it in court, they would shock the memories out of you. It did something to your brain, caused the seizures.” Steve put his hand in Bucky’s. He kissed each knuckle, holding the hand close.

“Where’s Peter at?”

“He’s back in his room, his friends went home. You remember what he did?”

“Yeah.” Tony walked in, seeing his ex-lover holding Bucky’s hand close to his chest. And for once he smiled. Steve never held him like that. Even when they were engaged. He could see how much Steve loved him.

“How’s he doing?” Tony asked.

“Better, can we ask Cho if he can have some medicine like Peter? For his seizures. I don’t want him to be in pain.” Tony nodded and typed out a message for the Doctor.

“She’ll work on something, using Barnes’ blood samples.” Steve nodded.

“When can I go home?”

“Cho said that we need to keep you here for a day or two for observation. Then you might be able to go home,” Steve said. Bucky rolled his eyes, he hated hospitals. He hated doctors. His therapist told him it was because of everything HYDRA did to him. They would bring in ‘doctors’ and they would do terrible things to him. “It’ll be okay. You want to go chill in Peter’s room, or my room?”

“I want to see Peter,” He said. Steve nodded, lifted him up and plopped him in the wheelchair. “This sucks.” Bucky hated wheelchairs. When he was first brought to the new SHIELD they kept him in the wheelchair for his safety. He kept dissociating and passing out, unresponsive but medically fine. Bucky just generally hates being pushed around. Steve took him to the elevator and they scanned their passes.

“Barnes, James. Alpha level.”

“Rogers, Steve. Alpha Level,” Friday said. It took only a second to be on the top floor. Steve pushed Bucky out of the door and down the hall. They were met by the door with colorful signs that read, ‘Peter’s room, KEEP OUT.’ Bucky laughed at these. He reached up and flicked the door opened.

“Bucky!” Peter was so excited, he jumped up from his bed. He was watching something on his TV. Most likely one of the recordings of the Avengers on the news. Peter loved to watch them, seeing his dads in action. Peter hugged Bucky in the strongest position possible.

“How are you doing, Peter?” Bucky asked.

“I’m good. I like staying here. I have my own TV.” Steve laughed. Peter laid on his bed, his face dangling off the edge. “So… can you feel stuff with your metal arm?”

“Nope,” Bucky said, accentuating the p sound. It was kind of obvious to him, why would Hydra want him to feel what he was killing with that arm.

“Nothing at all? Not even this?” Peter punched him in the arm.

“That definitely hurt you more than me.” Bucky laughed at his own joke, but he was right. If he didn’t see Peter punching him he wouldn’t know that he did it. “But anyway, I guess I know what it’s like to be in your head a little more now.”

“Oh with the…”

“Yeah,” Bucky said. Steve smiled, never thinking that his son and boyfriend would have something to bond over. He didn’t see it, but through their conversation, Bucky was smiling too.

“Hey buddy, you ready to go home?” Tony said, taking Peter’s hand. Peter was jumping around, ready to go home and get ready for his field trip later this week. He threw his backpack over his shoulder.

“Bye Bucky! I’ll see you on Friday!” Bucky stood up to hug Peter. He wasn’t as confined to the chair anymore. Peter put his hand back in his Dad’s and got into the elevator, swiping his ID.

“Stark-Rogers, Peter. Alpha level.”

“Stark, Tony. Alpha Level.” Friday finished ringing out the card names and the elevator went down to the first floor. They were met by Pepper Potts, the redhead smiling.

“Hey, Peter!” She hugged him, making it Peter’s third hug of the day. They left the compound, going to Tony’s car. So many memories in that car. Tony had a few but mainly used this Audi. This was the car that Tony drove Peter to preschool in, and back home an hour later when he wouldn’t stop crying. Peter was mostly quiet on the way home, reading his book. They pulled into the driveway of the suburban home. Peter got out of the car and ran upstairs to throw his backpack on the bed. He turned on his computer to see messages upon messages from Ned and MJ. He opened his discord and started responding.

NedLeedstheWay: Bro how is he doing!

PeterStrogers: He’s doing good, back on his feet

NedLeedstheWay: Awesome. Guessing u back home?

PeterStrogers: Imma talk to MJ byyyyyyy

MJ: So like wtf how long has Captain America been ur dad?

PeterStrogers: Um since I was three mths old?

MJ: Omg. Why u never tell me, ur dads, r superheros?

PeterStrogers: u know like it’s weird to have your dad be the iron man. Why would I want pepo to know?

MJ: Good point

“Knock knock,” Tony said, standing in the doorway.

“Pepper went out for some errands, can I talk to you?” Peter nodded and sat down on the spot that his Dad patted on. “So, Pepper’s been around for a while now. About three years?”

“Yeah, I like her. She’s super nice.” Peter dangled his feet off the edge of the bed. He didn’t know where this conversation was going, and to be honest, he was scared.

“I’m not very good at beating around the bush when it comes to this kind of stuff. I want to marry her, and I want to know how you feel about it.” Peter didn’t see this coming.

“I mean I really like her, and I’ve accidentally called her Mom a couple of times. You love her very much right?”

“Yes, yes I do,” Tony said. His eyes began to water.

“Then you should marry her. Are you asking for my blessing like some dad from the 1800s?”

“I just wanted to know how you felt. I’m taking her out to dinner tonight, and I’m going to propose with this.” He pulled out a ring. A beautiful diamond, engraved, Tony+Pepper 2014-

“It’s so pretty.” Peter put the ring in his hands, feeling how smooth the band was and how amazing the diamond felt on his fingers. Peter looked forward for a moment until he said, “I’m gonna have a mom.” Tony brought him into a hug.

“Yes, you are. You’re gonna have a mom.” Tony put his face on Peter’s shoulder. He wouldn’t admit if he cried or not.


	3. Well Framed Photos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's proposal to Pepper and subsequently Peter's way of escaping wedding planning madness.

“Why don’t we keep working on our Lego Stark Tower before getting ready for dinner?”

“Sounds like a plan, Dan.”

“My name is Dad to you, and my first name is Tony.” Peter laughed. They sat down on the floor and continued building up the old tower. Before they knew it, the clock ticked at half-past five. “Crap, we need to get dressed,” Tony said, standing up.

“We?”

“Of course I want you there. You’re my son Peter, I want you there when I propose.”

“I’ll get dressed.” Tony left the room and Peter grabbed his best suit. He knew that Tony would take Pepper to a super fancy restaurant. Peter turned on his computer and youtubed how to tie a tie. His Dad walked in during this process.

“Hey buddy, let me help you with that.” Tony grabbed the tie and finished the job.

“Did you talk to Pops about you know…”

“I did. He’s really happy about it.” Peter smiled. He was worried that Steve would be mad. Thankfully, according to his dad, they were fine with it. “You ready to go?” Peter nodded and went to the stairs with his father. As they turned the corner they both saw her.

Pepper, dressed in a beautiful A-line dress in light blue. The sleeves draped over her shoulders. She had silver heels and a matching clutch. Tony went up to her, put her cheeks in his hands and kissed her.

“You are so beautiful.” Peter wasn’t even disgusted this time. He just looked at his dad and future mom loving each other. “Let’s go to dinner, I have a seven PM reservation for us, and we don’t want to be late.” He took Pepper’s hand and reached out for Peter’s as they left the house.

Peter climbed into the back seat of Tony’s Audi. They drove for a while until they arrived at a beautiful patio restaurant glimmering in fairy lights. They approached the host.

“Reservation for three, Stark?”

“Of course! Please follow me.” The suited man led them to a table near the back. There were candles on the table, along with the stringed white lights above them.

“This place is amazing, Tony,” Pepper said as her boyfriend pulled her chair out for her to sit in.

“I know, I saw it and thought of you.” He kissed her cheek and sat down.

“What do you want to eat, Peter?”

“Do they have chicken tenders?” Pepper laughed into her hand.

“No, buddy, they don’t have chicken tenders. How about some pasta?” Peter started looking at the menu with Tony, eyeing the pastas on the kids menu. The waiter came by, asking what they will have to drink. Peter wanted a strawberry lemonade, as usual. He assumed that this wasn’t too fancy, but was still fancy enough. Tony and pepper both got red wine. He asked if they knew what they wanted to eat, and of course they did.

“How was your day, sweetheat?” Tony asked.

“It was good, we finished the presentation for the newest Stark Phone. It’s very good, and I would hope so, we oversaw the project ourselves!” Tony laughed into his wine. “I also have a special humanities project for you in Sierra Leone. You, me, and some others. We’re going to deliver medical supplies to the three hospitals we helped build this year.”

“If you mean ‘help build them’ by giving them three million dollars up front, then you could say I picked up a hammer and built. When are we going to be doing this?”

“You will get more details this week, now let me enjoy my wine with my boys.” Pepper kissed Peter’s cheek, then took a sip from her wine. A moment or so later the waiter returned with their entrees.

“That was amazing, so much better than chicken tenders!” Peter exclaimed. Tony smiled at his kid, it would only be a few moments before Tony got down on one knee and recited the speech that he had prepared so well.

Tony ordered dessert for them, and just as the waiter left he thought, this is the moment. This is when I’m going to propose. He took a deep breath. “Pepper, you look so beautiful tonight. Just as beautiful as the day I met you. And you aren’t just beautiful because of your lovely hair and elegant dress. You are the strongest person I have ever met. You can run a company and come home with a smile, you can deal with me every single day. And that is no easy task.”

“Tony, what are you on about?” Tony’s hand was shaking. He put it in Pepper’s. He got out of his chair and knelt down. “Oh, Tony” She looked down at her hand in his.

“We’ve been through a lot, and before I had you I couldn’t do it. I was a mess. But then I got you in my life and everything got easier. I never want to go back. And Peter… You’re like a mom to him. I have seen it, when you drive him to school and making his lunches. He’s your son too, not just mine or Steve’s. Pepper I want to grow old with you. I want to raise Peter with you. I…” He took a deep breath and looked at the red head in the eye.

“Virginia Potts, will you marry me?” He reached into his pocket and got the ring. He took it out and held it in front of her. In that moment, which was really a few seconds, it felt like time slowed down. All of the other patrons disappeared. It was just Tony and Pepper, his wife.

“Yes, I will marry you. I love you.” She pulled him up by the cheeks and kissed him tenderly. Tony stood up with her and slipped the ring on her finger. “It’s so beautiful.” She looked at the ring, wondering how she got so lucky. “Peter!” She stood by Peter, who was smiling ear to ear.

“I’m so happy for you, mom.” Peter noticed that her eyes were watering, she was crying too. They were so busy taking in the fact that they were a family that none of them noticed the restaurant full of clapping people. The waiter came with their chocolate dessert. Pepper smiled, holding Tony’s hand while they ate.

After that they went home and watched a movie together, Peter in between his parents. He fell asleep in Pepper’s arms. She looked around, wondering what she should do.

“Just pick him up, he weighs nothing and is a very heavy sleeper.” Pepper picked him up, easy for her. Most will not think that she is as strong as Iron Man, but they are wrong. They went up the stairs. Tony pulled back the covers on Peter’s bed and Pepper laid him in.

“How does it feel to be a mom?” Tony rested his head in Pepper’s shoulder, right where it landed naturally.

“Weird, I never thought of myself as a mom before. And I never thought that this is how I would.” She leaned back and kissed his cheek.

That next morning Peter turned on his computer and saw dozens of articles about Tony’s announcement this morning. It was nine AM. This was going to be a fun day off school. He saw the tweet that his dad sent an hour earlier.

@TonyStark- It’s official! The lady (@PepperPotts) and I are engaged! < 2 Photos Attached>

The photo was from someone in the restaurant, most likely the host. It was Pepper and Tony, her kissing him. The second was of them holding hands, Pepper’s ring shining in the light. So many tabloids had already written about it, the classy papers waiting more than an hour to report on it. Peter headed down the stairs.

“Dad? Have you seen all the stuff online?”

“Of course I have, the original tweet already has five hundred thousand retweets.”

“That… is a lot.”

“Just wait another hour, then the central time people will be awake.” He ruffled Peter’s hair and kissed the crown of his head.

“Morning Miss Pepper, or Mom, or I don’t know yet,” Peter said to Pepper making her tea.

“It’s fine, dear, you don’t have to call me anything special right now.” She put her arm around him.

“So Pete, you want to go to the compound with us? Or would you rather do something fun on the last day of your four day weekend?”

“Are you kidding! Going to the compound is fun! I love hanging out with Uncle Clint and Auntie Nat. They are so much fun.” Tony smiled. They were going over for wedding planning, talking to Nat and Clint. To be completely honest, for all the things that they could do, wedding planning was not their forte.

Clint and Nat got married two years back, and even if Nat was almost always at SHIELD for something, or on a mission, they were the happiest couple.

“You want some breakfast, I made eggs for my favorite people.” Peter jumped up to the barstool and chowed down on some scrambled eggs.

“Delicious,” Peter said with his mouth full of food. His Dad put his hand on his chin, keeping it closed.

“Get your stuff, we’re going to leave in a little bit.” Peter smiled and grabbed his backpack. He brushed his teeth a bit too quickly, and ran back downstairs.

“Who’s going to be your best bridesmaid?”

“Oh, I don’t know… Perhaps Natasha or Maria. Wanda will definitely be one of my bridesmaids.”

“And you, Dad?”

“Probably you, Rhodey, Steve, Clint, and some of the other guys.”

“Me?” Peter was confused. He didn’t think that he could be a groomsman.

“Of course, why wouldn’t you be in my wedding? You are actually my kid. You were the ring bearer in Clint and Nat’s wedding.” Peter shrugged. Tony turned out the lights and they all got into his audi. Peter opened his book and read the duration of the drive, about twenty minutes.

They pulled into the driveway. Peter was excited to see Clint and Wanda and Bucky. He practically ran into the building, swiping his card, and taking the elevator. He did have some kindness though, he waited for Tony and Pepper before taking it. When the elevator opened, they were all met by the Avengers cheering.

In front were Nat and Clint. They were smiling so wide. Peter ran off to Natasha and Wanda.

“Where’s Pietro?” Peter asked Wanda.

“In our room, as usual. He’s probably playing video games.” Peter laughed. Wanda and Pietro were only three years older than Peter, so they got along pretty well. It only took Peter a month to get used to their peculiar accents.

“Congratulations on the engagement,” Nat said to Pepper, enveloping her in a hug.

“Thank you, Nat. We are in desperate need of you two’s knowledge of wedding planning.” She put her face in Nat’s shoulder.

“You were engaged yesterday, and you are already stressing. Classic Starks,” Clint said. He rolled his eyes. Pepper elbowed him in the side.

“Can we just work through this, we don’t have a date yet but I was thinking August?” Natasha nodded and took her back to the common room to work through wedding plans. Peter and Wanda ran off to Wanda’s room, shared with her twin brother. She opened the door to see Pietro on the bottom bunk of their bed. He was playing a video game, something of the Call of Duty sorts. They definitely didn’t have that in Sokovia.

“Hey, you want to play outside with us? I bet it will be much more fun than being cooped up in here.”

“Fine, but if you are so tired of me, why don’t you just get your own room?” Pietro yelled. Wanda flinched. He was right. Why would Wanda want to share a room with her brother when there are plenty of empty rooms in this big house? Wanda never answered. The truth was that she was scared, scared for her brother. Ever since Sokovia and Ultron and even before, her brother would have nightmares. He would wake up screaming and scratching himself until he bled. She couldn’t leave him alone, she was the only one who knew how to make it stop.

“Come on you party-pooper.” Peter grabbed the brunette boy by the wrist and jokingly drug him out of the door. They went to the playground that was outside the building. It was part of the charity park that Tony used for events. They brought children of the less fortunate or are part of the make wishes program. So many kids love to play with the Avengers. Peter ran to the monkey bars, his favorite.

“Do you think that you’ll make it today?” Wanda said. Peter stared at the bars two feet above him.

“I hope!” He climbed onto them and forced himself not to look down, that made him fall more. He started to swing his body. He reached for the bar and grabbed a hold. Peter breathed a sigh of relief. He started swinging again and moved his other hand to the bar. Wanda cheered for him. She was a little busy pushing her brother on the tyre swing. Peter sighed again and began to swing. He reached forward, tried to get a hold on the bar, but failed. He fell down on the mulch of the playground.

“You’ll get it next time, Peter,” Wanda said. Peter got himself off the ground, wiping the blood from his face. He wasn’t going to bother to try again. Instead he went to the swingset, pushing himself off. He got tired quickly though. He could barely keep his eyes open. Pietro watched as the younger kid flopped off the swing.

“Wanda! He fell.” Pietro made sure that he wasn’t having a seizure.

“He’s asleep,” Wanda said. She picked him up, but her brother insisted that he carry the child. He was stronger. Pietro put Peter’s head on his shoulder and wrapped his legs around his own waist like a koala or panda bear. Wanda followed him inside and up the back elevator to the bedroom.

“You didn’t have to wait on me, you could have ran.” Wanda didn’t want to be treated like a baby either. Her brother shrugged and put Peter on the bottom bunk of their bed. “You are smart though, if Tony found out that he was asleep, he would be worried.” They put the blanket over him; Peter rolling over. Wanda looked back to make sure that he was okay, then leaving the room. She walked to the kitchen to grab some lemonade, but fate just had to strike.

“Hello Wanda, I thought Peter was with you?” Steve said. She tried to avoid him, going to the kitchen to get lemonade. “Wanda?”

“я не говорю по английски извините” She walked faster, almost turning around to go back. She realized though, Steve was going to follow her no matter what.

“Wanda, I spend enough time with Bucky and Nat, I know what you said. You do know how to speak english. Where is Peter?” She sighed and stopped, her foolproof plan had been fooled.

“He fell asleep, he’s in Pietro’s bed.”

“That wasn’t that hard. I’m not like Tony all the time. You two are older and can tell if something is wrong. He probably needed to sleep anyway.” Wanda breathed a sigh of relief. “Just let him rest, and get your lemonade.” She smiled and skipped off to the kitchen. She came back to the bedroom and saw that Peter was already awake, blushing.

“What happened?”

“He woke up, and started apologizing.” Peter got out of the bed.

“Peter, it’s okay. You fell asleep on the swing, so we brought you here. We thought that you would sleep a little longer, though.” Peter put the blanket back on the bed as carefully as he could. “Why don’t we play some video games? We have a playstation. Steve got it for us.” Peter smiled. He went to look through their game library.

“You have fifa 18! I only have the one that came out last year,” Peter exclaimed with excitement. He sat down on the beanbag, grabbing one of the controllers. Pietro picked up the other, and they began to play.

“So you’re dad is getting married. How’s that.” Pietro asked. Peter shrugged.

“It’s fine. Not as many people pay attention to me now, so if I fall asleep they don’t think I’m dying. But I’ve never had a mom before, and I really like Pepper.” He grabbed some of the snacks from the older boy and began to munch.

“Our mom was very nice. She was like Pepper, her red hair. She had hair like Wanda’s but much, much more red.” Wanda’s hair was brown with some red in it. Peter thought it was pretty.

“This game is so much better than 17.” Peter chomped on some more popcorn and kept playing the game. He was so focused to notice his Pops standing in the doorway. Just seeing Peter smiling like that made him remember..

“Steve, Tony he's here. This morning a passenger airline plane was shot down by a Hydra soldier on the ground. We have found a few motives for this, but both go to a couple that was on the plane. But when the plane went down, so did everyone else. Including Mary and Richard Parker. When Shield went to the address, there was a babysitter and an infant.” Nick pointed them into the room. Inside was a few empty beds and a crib. Inside was a tiny baby, could only be a couple months old.

“Does it have family?”

“By what we found, all he has is an Aunt. She is 42 years old and has severe short term memory loss. She won’t be able to take him in.”

“He?”

“Oh, I forgot. His name is Peter, last name Parker.” Tony went to the crib. He picked up the baby, he was wrapped in a blue blanket. He was so tiny, and kept squirming in Tony’s arms.

“Steve… He’s so…”

“Perfect?” He nodded. He handed the baby to Steve. Peter looked so little in Steve’s big arms. He held the baby up to his chest. He wiggled in his blanket.

“Tony, this is our chance. We can have a family…” He leaned in and kissed Tony’s lips.

The rest of the day was spent filling out paperwork, and finishing a nursery with the help of some friends. This was the first time that Steve had felt a strong feeling. He didn’t even know what he was feeling, but he knew it was strong. He hadn’t felt like this since he woke up and they told him the year was 2002. Now, three years later, and he has never been happier.

“Peter, I think your Dad is going to take you home in a bit,” Steve said. Peter finished his soccer game and went into his room to get his things. He met his Dad in the largest common room where he was sitting with Clint and Nat.

“Hey Dad!” Peter said as he put his hands on Tony’s shoulders. His dad jumped up with fright, causing the others to laugh.

“Hey Bud, you ready to go home? Get ready for your field trip?” Peter nodded, turning to show his backpack. Peter was very excited to visit the labs in New York City.

“How was the wedding planning?” Peter grabbed an apple off of the table. He bit into it. Tony smiled.

“Oh it was just grand, how is that apple?”

“This is made of wax.”


	4. A Field Trip full of Dreams (and puke)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter goes on a field trip to the New York Science Labs, and a specific project at Oscorp grabs his attention. And something is a bit more than a pinch on his shoulder...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the reads and kudos! Chapters may not be coming out as slowly as possible because I'm working on a few more fics right now. 
> 
> I used inspiration for the wakeup scene from all the ones that I've seen (Toby M, Andrew, and Spiderverse)
> 
> Enjoy!

“Dad! How fancy should I be for a lab? Button down or T shirt?” Peter shouted through the house. Pepper had already left to go to the Stark HQ for important CEO things that did not interest Peter in the slightest.

“I don’t care! And I don’t think anyone else will care what you are wearing. Just impress them with your massive intellect.” Tony laughed. Peter put on a science pun shirt and his regular shoes.

“How do I look?” Peter said once he reached the bottom of the stairs. Tony took a once over look at him, ruffled his hair, and smiled.

“You look great, kid. No one will worry about what you are wearing.” He finished the sandwich and put it in the paper bag. He wrote Peter’s name on it and dropped the happy little note inside of it. “Now eat. I know you are excited, but breakfast is important.” Tony slid him a bowl of cheerios and a spoon. Peter chowed down quickly.

“What experiments do you think I’m going to see? I bet nothing as cool as you and Uncle Bruce!” Peter said. Tony laughed. He sure knows how to suck up, doesn’t he?

“I don’t know. I don’t work with the New York labs.” Tony checked his watch and sent the kid off to brush his teeth. Peter skipped away, while Tony got his phone out.

-Pep, please tell me that you are not at a meeting at the New York Labs

-Why?

-Just answer me.

-Yes, I am. Stark Industries is working on giving them some of our tech. I’ll be there all day

-ugh

Tony put his phone back in his pocket. He had spent all of Peter’s life keeping his parent’s fame a secret. He fought so hard for his middle name to appear on his ID instead of his last name at his new school. But all failed. The school said that they didn’t make special exceptions for famous people. And now his new mom was going to be at his school field trip. He did not want to mention it to Pepper, as that would only make things worse.

“Hey Pete, you ready to go!” Peter ran out in his jacket and backpack.

“Yep! I’m ready. Let’s go. Allonsy!”

“Jesus Christ, what did you watch with your father?”

“Nothing, and I watched Doctor Who with Bruce.” That’s the ticket, Tony thought. He knew one of them showed him something. And it made sense that Bruce would watch Doctor Who, he was a man of science after all.

“Let’s go, or Allonsy or whatever,” Tony said. He grabbed the car keys, checked that Peter’s seatbelt was on, and left to take him to school. Peter spaced out on the drive, thinking about all of the things he might see at the lab. “C'mon dude, snap out of it. We are at school now.” Peter looked up and saw his middle school. Peter opened the door and waved goodbye. He skipped off to find Ned and his classmates.

They all met up in the science lab. Peter saw Michelle and Ned sitting together on one of the tables. He waved to them and ran to their table.

“Peter! It’s finally the day!” Ned shouted. Peter jumped up onto the table, fumbling with his glasses. They were always just a bit too big for his face, but that was no big deal to him. They chatted amongst themselves about the incoming field trip.

“I went online and saw some of the projects that they work on at the labs. Apparently Oscorp works there and they do all of the strangest things! They barely said anything on the website. Lots of radiation,” Michelle said. Peter’s eyes widened at the word radiation, as the subject intrigued him.

Before long the morning bell rang and their teacher came into the room. Mr. Harrington started counting the students and once all were accounted for he cleared his throat to get the attention of all the students.

“Boys and girls, today is the day! We are going to the New York City Science Labs!” Everyone cheered. “We have to leave right away to make our tour time, so let’s get in a line and load the bus.” The cheers continued as they walked down the hallway and outside the building to the bus.

Of course, Ned, Michelle, and Peter sat together on the bus with Peter sitting next to Ned and Michelle right behind them. Peter sat up straighter and looked around the bus to see where everyone was sitting. His stomach dropped when he saw who was just a few seats behind him. It was Flash, and of course it was Flash because Peter’s stupid luck can’t get him anything good.  
“Ugh, Flash is over there,” Peter groaned to Ned. The other boy looked over and saw Flash sitting with his gang of friends. They were all douchebag boys who prayed off of Flash and his family’s riches. But that’s nothing new, just watch any high school film. Peter though, sunk into his seat. But none was avail. Because Flash caught a blink of the curly haired, glasses clad boy and started yelling.

“Hey Penis! Nice shirt, did your mom get it for you? Oh wait…” He high fived one of his goons as they laughed. Peter’s cheeks burned as he sunk further into his seat. If only Flash could come up with some more interesting insults other than the whole two dad thing, Peter thought. Thing is, nobody ever has something different to say. Once they see his nametag and that his legal last name is Stark-Rogers they freak out about how his name is the same as two superheroes, but one day in the pick up line everything went wrong. Flash saw him getting into a car with Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. And they were holding hands. Of course he instantly started tormenting Peter about it.

Peter shook away the thought, taking his book out of his bag. He grabbed his bookmark and started reading it. It was The Hobbit, his Pop’s copy, and it was nearly his billionth time reading it. His favorite scene was when Bilbo was trapped in the cave with gollum. Apparently when he was a baby his Pop would read it to him, and he would smile. Peter doesn’t even think that babies can hear things at that time.

Once Mr. Harrington took roll the bus began to drive away. They passed through the suburbs and parks in their neighborhood before they got to the busy roads of the city. The buildings began getting taller and the traffic getting heavier.

“I feel like I can see the Statue of Liberty from here,” Ned said. Peter hit him on the back of the head, gently.

“You dingus, it is impossible to see The Statue of Liberty from here!” Ned laughed.

“I was joking!” The both of them laughed. Peter heard a ding from his backpack. He rolled his eyes and pulled out his Stark Phone.

He absolutely hated carrying this thing around. For a while he started leaving it at home, but of course, Dad wanted to be able to contact him in ‘emergencies.’

Pop: Have fun on your field trip! :)

Peter: I will and please don’t use emojis =(  
Pop: :[

Peter was about to turn the phone off when he noticed that something was off about his messages. He had a new contact in his phone. He clicked on it and saw a picture of a face that he of course, recognized. The contact read, Bucky Barnes. He tried to fight his temptation to text the number, but he gave in.

Peter: Hey Mr. Barnes, when did you get my number?

…..

Bucky: Steve gave it to me. He put it in your phone

Peter: ok, how are you doing?

Bucky: Better, have fun on your field trip.

Peter shook his head and turned off the phone. He put it back in his backpack, seeing his emergency medication and remembering the events of last weekend. He hated it when he had a seizure, and waking up from one with no memory is even worse.

“You good? You look a little pale?” Peter head Michelle’s voice over his shoulder. He realized that a couple minutes had passed and that he spent them remembering his little ‘incident.’

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just remembered something.” Michelle sat back down in her seat. Peter looked out the window with Ned, admiring the sights of the approaching city. They could see the building that they had found out with hours of internet research to be the New York City Science Labs.

“That’s it right there!” Ned yelled perhaps a bit too loud. Peter didn’t care as he was also very excited.

There were a few things that Peter didn’t know going into this trip. The first being that his mom is inside this building right now in a meeting about some very boring things. The second, that his life was about to change in approximately twenty minutes.

But he didn’t know these things, and even if he did, he was too excited to think about it. He hopped into line with the other students of varying excitement. They entered the building with the sound of the students’ amazement with the architecture. The whole building could been seen through the glass floors. It reminded Peter of the glass lobby in the old Stark tower. He used to play there with some of the other kids of employees.

A woman from the front desk approached them. She was in a skirt suit and looked minorly important. “Ok kids, you are now going to receive name tags that state you as a visitor. We wouldn’t want you to get hauled out by security,” She laughed. “Your tour guide should be arriving soon.” She passed around the clip on tags. Peter put his own right next to his school ID. Like any day, he hoped that no one would read it. Especially here.

Another woman came up to them, this one younger and wearing a nice knee length dress. “Hello boys and girls, you are the Midtown Middle School science class correct?”

“Yes we are, they are very excited to see the labs.” The tour guide smiled a stock photo smile. Peter squinted his eyes to see the name tag. Janinie, tour guide. Peter didn’t know how that information would benefit him, but it was nice to know her name.

“We will begin our tour on the second floor. This is where we host the largest science convention in New York, along with our third floor.” She began walking backwards. They entered the elevator and took it to the second floor where they saw the set up for the convention.

They then moved to the sixth floor where they saw the first science lab. Just a small company operating out of rented space, but it was pretty cool nonetheless. They moved a floor up and saw all of the meeting spaces.

“This may look boring, but many members of city government and even the president have met here to discuss the projects that scientists work on here. You may even see someone important while we walk through!” Peter could hear the whispers through the line of students.

“Do you think we’ll see one of the superheroes? Like Bruce Banner or Tony Stark?” Peter didn’t recognize the voice, but thankfully it wasn’t Flash. But Peter knew that his Dad and Uncle Bruce were working at the compound today. He could have said that, but he didn’t.

They continued walking down the hallways. Peter had kind of spaced out when he heard a familiar voice. Peter kept walking. Then he realized that the voice wasn’t moving but standing still.

“Hey kids! Here is someone pretty important. This is the CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts!” Then Peter was face to face with her. She gave him a weak smile. Everyone got excited when they saw her especially because of the news of the recent engagement.

“Oh my god! You’re Iron Man’s wife!” Another child yelled. Pepper was slightly disappointed, but she was used to it by now. Peter realized that his breathing was speeding up, and he began to back up into the crowd. He saw Pepper looking his way. His heart was pounding in his ear, Thump, thump thump thump.

“Excuse me everyone,” Pepper said. She pushed through the crowd to Peter. Peter continued pushing through the group. But a certain Flash Thompson decided to trip him. His glasses flew off and he landed on the ground. Pepper gasped and crouched down to him. “Peter, are you okay?” Peter thought about it, he wasn’t having a panic attack surly. And he wasn’t having a seizure.

“I’m fine, I just freaked out a little bit.” She rubbed his back. Pepper reached for his glasses; she put them back on his face. She stayed on the ground with him on the ground for a few moments.

“How the hell do you know Peter?” Flash asked.

“That is none of your business, and how dare you trip him.” She helped him back up and saw him smile. Peter saw Flash blushing, his cheeks turning red.

“Thank you Mom.” And that was the payback that Peter wanted. He smiled as he got up to watch the confusion of Flash’s face. He enjoyed it, probably more than he should.

\- - - - - -- - - - - - - -

“And now boys and girls, we are getting to the part that I know you have been waiting for!” she said, “Oscorp Labs!” The students cheered as they entered the thirty somethingth floor. They saw real scientists, some of them famous, working on awesome projects. They saw some chemistry happening that they didn’t understand a lick of.

“There is a super cool project happening through these doors, and Doctor Lin will show you there. Thank you Doctor Lin!” As the tour went on, the tour guide seemingly got more and more enthusiastic about nothing.

A scientist in his mid thirties wearing a lab coat came up to the group. “Hey kids! So right over here we have been working on a pretty cool project studying spiders. Don’t freak out! They are all in glass cages and cannot get out. We are manipulating the fabric that makes up a living being. This is to play with the idea of curing diseases and life threatening ailments in people someday.” He used his key card to open a door to the spider lab.

“Peter, this is so awesome! And your mom is pretty cool too,” Ned said. Peter laughed. The guide explained the projects further, saying the fifty cent lines such as, ‘Oscorp is changing the world, one spider at a time!’

They stopped in front of a wall with dozens of glass boxes. Inside where spiders of varying sizes. Peter took out his phone and snapped a few pictures. Betty raised her hand.

“Yes?” The tour guide asked.

“Why is there one missing?” Peter looked and saw that one of the boxes was completely empty, no spider in sight.

“Oh that’s completely normal, as most go out for testing every day or so.” Peter put his phone back in his backpack. He felt Ned pinch his shoulder.

“Ned!” He whispered, but Ned did not hear him. That really hurt, I bet Ned’s been working out. He went on with the tour not knowing that Ned did not pinch him or that in exactly thirty seconds he would grab a trash can and throw up.

So he did. He said he just got hot because he was, and why else would he be throwing up. The tour finished twenty minutes later. After that they got on the bus and drove. Thankfully, Peter didn’t throw up again. But when he got home he felt like he was half dead.

“Hey Pete! How was your field trip?” Tony asked while Peter was stumbling towards the stairs.

“I don’t feel very good, I’m gonna lay down,” Peter said. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the stair banister. Pepper turned to Tony on the couch with a look that said, is he really okay? Does he need a doctor?

“He’s fine, probably,” Tony said. Meanwhile, Peter was stumbling into his room. He flopped onto his bed, threw off his glasses, and fell asleep. He was asleep for what he later found out was thirteen hours. Tony thought that when he came downstairs he would still be as sluggish, but he was wrong.

When Peter woke up he did what he did every morning, he reached for his glasses. His eyes were not even open when he reached for the bed table. He put the frames on and blinked his eyes opened. He adjusted the glasses, and then again. He took them off, and then back on again. Something is wrong here, Peter thought. He put the glasses on again, I can’t see. I can’t see, I can’t see? He took the glasses off again. I haven’t been able to see like this since I was in the first grade! This is great! He left the glasses on the nightstand and got out of bed. He was faced by the mirror. He fell asleep after he took his shirt off, and he was just noticing the giant boil on his shoulder.

“Holy shit,” Peter said to himself. It was at that moment that he remembered yesterday’s field trip. The spider room, the missing spider, and the pinch on his shoulder. His eyes moved from the bite on his shoulder to his bicep. They were bigger, muscular even. He touched it. It felt like his Pop’s shoulders. Touching his stomach, he felt the washboard of his abs. Maybe that weird spider is making me hallucinate. He threw on a shirt that was on his floor. He went into the bathroom and grabbed the toothpaste. He squeezed it lightly and half the bottle squeezed onto the mirror. Confused he scooped it onto the toothbrush. He brushed his teeth, still dazed out of confusion. He finished brushing his teeth and went back into his bedroom.

Peter went to his desk and picked up his homework. He looked at what he would have to do this weekend, nothing that difficult for him. He went to put it down but it stuck to his hand. It took him a minute to get it off. But through his mind, an idea came. An idea that made him smile, but a voice interrupted his deep thought. His Dad.

“Peter? Are you awake? Any change?”

“Yeah, big change.”


	5. A Game of Tic Tac Toe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter wakes up after his eventful field trip and plays a little game with MJ during a particularly boring math class. Steve and Tony reflect on the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woop

Peter grabbed the stair banister and ran down the stairs with vigor. Tony looked up to see him so happy and it made him smile. Pepper was at the kitchen counter with a plate of pancakes in tow. 

“Feeling better I see,” she said. Peter threw himself onto the barstool and grabbed three pancakes, wow he was hungry. “You might want to slow down on those pancakes buddy, don’t want to get sick again,” Pepper said. She laughed at the boy chowing down on his breakfast. 

“He’s a growing boy, Pep, let him eat,” Tony said. He was drinking coffee and reading on his computer about the newest developments at SI. When you have so many branches around the world, your work never sleeps. And this is the struggle that Tony has been having ever since he and Steve adopted Peter. It wasn’t acceptable for him to stay up all hours when he has a child to take care of. He had to set an example for Peter, and that wasn’t being a workaholic who works himself half to death. 

“Are you taking me to school today?” Peter said, looking at his father. 

“Yes, both I and Pepper will be taking you to school. She even made your lunch,” Tony stood up and went behind the kitchen island to his fiance. “Already such a mother,” he kissed her cheek. She blushed and of course, Peter made a gagging noise. Pepper laughed. 

Peter rolled his eyes and grabbed the sack lunch on the island. It had his name written on it with a heart drawn next to it. He again rolled his eyes. How can a twelve-year-old already be so much a teenager? Tony had to think. In the meanwhile, Peter grabbed his backpack and shoes and put them on. 

A few minutes later he was in the backseat of Tony’s car. He started to blast his music, the same as every day. When Happy drives Peter to school the music choice is nonexistent. That’s part of the reason that Peter hates it when Happy drives him, as the drive is so boring. 

“Have a good day!” Tony shouted to Peter as he left the car. Pepper waved and blew a kiss. He threw his backpack over his shoulder and walked into his school. Ned was right at the front doors, presumably waiting for Peter. 

“School is going to be so boring today! I mean we aren’t going to Oscorp or anything now,” Ned said, laughing. Peter laughed as well. Do I tell him? Does that make me a bad friend if I don’t want to tell him? Peter decided not to tell him, because well, even Peter himself didn’t know what was going on. 

“Yeah, and I think we have a sub in Spanish again,” Peter said followed by a groan. Ned also groaned. If they were having a sub in Spanish it was going to be Mr. Ohazio, one of the only substitute teachers at this school. And just to add it on top, he’s an old veteran who rambles on about how people in America should speak American, or whatever the hell that means. 

Tony arrived at the compound after dropping Pepper off at the SI headquarters, of course sealing with a little smooch. He went up to the labs to see Bruce, Steve, and Bucky lunging around. The funniest part was that Bucky’s arm was just laying in his lap, and he was petting is as if it was his cat. 

It was a week or two ago that Bruce, Tony, Helen Cho, and a team of very skilled doctors did the 18-hour surgery that allowed Bucky’s arm to be detachable. It involved a lot of blood loss and making connections for the nerve endings that were bunched up in the arm and the metal bones that went through his shoulder. It was a major step in making these prosthetics available to you know, make more. It was only a few days ago that they first detached it. 

“Looks like old Mr. Arm is having a good time there,” Tony said. Steve looked at him and laughed. Seemed like they were having a good time. 

“Oh Mr. Arm is doing great, aren’t you!” Bucky was still treating the arm as if it were his cat. And it was definitely not. Steve laughed. He looked at Tony with a more serious expression. 

“How was Peter’s field trip?” Steve asked. Bucky’s eyes lit up again. 

“Yeah, how was the trip? The kid couldn’t stop talking to me about it,” Bucky said. He handed the arm to Doctor Banner and Tony who continued their research 

“He had fun, except for the part where Pepper ran into him. Not exactly ideal for a kid who keeps his identity secret for his new Mom to walk right into their field trip.” Steve’s eyes narrowed. 

“He’s calling her Mom?” Steve asked. He couldn’t tell if it was the worry, jealousy, or confusion. Tony nodded but with a shrug. Steve took it as a maybe. 

“She hasn’t talked about it much, but there have been a few times. Even before we got engaged.” Tony went over to the holographic model of an arm identical to the one on the table. Next to it was a model of the metal bones identical to Bucky’s. 

“That’s.. that’s great. I mean I remember when he was little and we would worry, you know.” 

“Yeah, I remember. We were so worried that he wouldn’t have a mom. We both had our moms growing up, and I… we didn’t want him to grow up like that at first. But we made it work, and it’s almost ironic now.” Tony laughed as he finished his sentence. 

Steve sat, his eyes glossed over. Bucky looked at him, and he didn’t want to interrupt his thoughts. Steve couldn’t stop remembering, and sometimes it hurts. 

“Daddy!” Steve caught Peter in his arms. Peter put his little face in Steve’s burly shoulders. Steve put his hands in Peter’s curls. He looked out into the gym of other preschoolers. He saw the other students in the same motion that he and his son were in. He grabbed Peter’s little Star Wars backpack and threw it across his shoulder. 

He carried Peter out to his car, or as his partner called it ‘Cap’s Mom Van.’ It was a mom van. Tony was right. Steve strapped Peter into his car seat and then got into the car himself. He started driving. 

“So, how was your first day!” Steve over-exaggerated on the question. 

“Miss Kumar asked me if my Mommy was picking me up or if I was taking the preschool bus. I said that I don’t have a Mommy. She said I’m sowwy and I don’t know why. Then she gave me a hug even though I didn’t want a hug,” Peter said, kicking his legs in his car seat in a playful manner. 

“That’s okay Pete, you don’t have a mom because you have two awesome Dads, right?” Steve sounded confident, but inside he was heartbroken. There had always been random shouts from strangers on the street who didn’t know who they were. Of course, Tony would give them the bird and keep walking. But that stuff stuck with Steve. 

It took so long for Tony to convince Steve that they wouldn’t be killed or arrested for holding hands in public. It took even longer for Steve to admit that he had feelings for Tony, an ongoing problem for him. 

Steve knew what Miss Kumar was thinking, and it wasn’t Peter’s fault. Peter didn’t know better, all he knows is that he has two dads. When Peter said that he doesn’t have a mom, his teacher thought that his mother was dead. She thought that this was a poor little kid who lost his mother. 

“I have the most awesome dads!” 

A week later, Tony Stark went missing in Afghanistan. 

“Papa? When is Daddy coming home?” Steve’s hands were on his face. He turned the TV off and threw the remote across the room. 

“I don’t know Pete, I don’t know when Daddy is coming home.” 

“Steve, you’re crying,” Tony said. He was standing right in front of Steve now, and Bucky was right next to him. Steve snapped out of his daze and wiped his eyes quickly. “Are you alright?” Bucky said gently. 

“Yeah, I just remembered something. Just Peter, and me in ‘08. Just… that stuff,” Steve said. And he didn’t really want to say it. Just reminding Bucky, and especially Tony about what happened those years ago. 

“It’s okay Steve, It’s been years and I’m fine. I know that 2008 wasn’t a good time for you or Peter or me, but after hundreds of sessions with two different therapists, I’m fine.” Steve didn’t wholeheartedly believe him, but he went along with it. There was a sliver of him that did believe that Tony was doing better. But, everything that he’s gone through, Tony’s been at the front lines. 

Steve deals with his internalized homophobia, but Tony is going through a breakup with a long time girlfriend. Steve has to raise Peter on his own for almost a year, yeah that really sucked. But in that time Tony was in Afghanistan getting waterboarded. Steve was learning to parent with a boyfriend dealing with PTSD, but Tony was dealing with palladium poisoning and alcoholism. Steve was almost killed by his best friend who he long thought to be dead, and Tony was watching on TV as his fiance fell from the sky. And not long after that, their relationship fell apart. 

Even if Steve had a lot on his shoulders, Tony was lifting double. 

“How’s the, uh, prosthetic stuff going?” Steve asked. 

“It’s going pretty well,” Bruce replied. He showed Steve some of the schematics. Apparently it is going to be the final draft before they start constructing. 

“That’s great, um. I’m going to go upstairs and get some stuff done,” Steve said. He hopped off the table where he was sitting and took the stairs upstairs. He never took the elevator unless he has to. He went into his office and sat down. 

He sighed. It was something that he was holding in. He leaned back in the chair, running his hands through his hair. He opened his laptop. He had a ton of unread emails from The Sarah Project, named after his mother. He and Sam really made it happen. Of course they had a tacky mission statement, but Tony had one of those too. “Breaking Stigma and Creating Change.” It wasn’t Steve’s favorite. But they did a lot of good work. They helped get homeless veterans homes. They helped give single mothers childcare and healthcare. They gave support where it was needed. It gave Steve the validation he wanted sometimes. 

He started responding to emails. They were sponsoring a single mom with type one diabetes and two kids who is finishing school. She needed extra help. She couldn’t afford insulin, food, and tuition. Something had to go, and that usually meant two out of three. And if she wanted to be able to give her kids a good life without that degree. 

He went on their website, they put up the pictures of Steve meeting a little kid in the hospital. His mom’s husband left her, and then he got sick. She needed help getting rent paid, not to mention the massive medical bills (thank you America). So for the past year and a half, Steve and The Sarah Project were sponsoring them. Steve visited the kid in the hospital. He let him hold the shield. 

“Steve?” Steve turned around and saw Bucky at the door frame. He spun the chair around. 

“Buck,” Steve said. He got up and wrapped his arms around Bucky. Steve’s realized that in a way, he’s like Tony. When he’s not doing well, he works. He makes sure that people are getting by. He gives. It’s what’s supposed to make him feel better. But this- this is what he used to do. Someone on the street would call him names, so he would run home and cuddle on the couch with Bucky. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Bucky asks. Steve nods. And they talk about it. 

\--

Peter is in math right now, but he could really care less about it. Integers are simple and took him practically thirty seconds to figure out. So he is staring into space. But as he looks around his eyes catch onto Michelle, MJ. He’s been noticing recently how pretty she is. The way her curly hair looks in a ponytail. The freckles that dot her nose and cheeks. Her converse sneakers that have little doodles on them. She’s drawing on them right now actually. Peter smiles. He grabs a piece of notebook paper and scribbled some words on it and then balls it up. He ‘drops’ it onto the floor and lightly taps it with his foot. With perfect aim he hits Michelle’s foot. She picks it up, looks back, locks eyes with Peter, and unfurls the paper. She reads it and looks back at Peter again. 

Bored, tic tac toe?  
-PParker

Peter watched Mj through his side view. He focused his senses in on her. He could hear the scratches of the pen on paper. He could hear her heartbeat and her breathing. He tried not to focus on that because that was kind of weird to hear. He listened to the scratches on the paper. It stopped, she crumpled the paper up, and kicked it behind her. Peter picked it up. 

Obviously. But only if I'm X’s   
-MJones

She drew the tic tac toe board and put her first x in the top left corner. So she’s that kind of player, risky. Peter decided to play it simple and put his O in the center. He kicked the note back. She picked it up. Two scratches could be heard on the paper. The paper ball hit his foot again. Mr. Park almost fell asleep at the whiteboard. Peter unfurled the paper ball and placed another O. Repeat. He placed another O. Repeat. Mr. Park goes on another rant about integers. Peter places another O. MJ writes two scratches on the paper and turns. She smiles and throws the paper ball at his head. He opens it. There is a line drawn through three Xs. Along with a note. 

Guess I win. And class is almost over.   
-Mj the winner

Peter laughed and locked eyes with Mj just as the bell rang. She flexed her arms. They took separate ways, Peter to geography and Michelle to Spanish. They only had two classes together and that was honors math and science He was hoping that in a few months that when he, hopefully, gets into honors 8th grade algebra with her because it's awesome to have a friend in class with you. And no offense to Ned, but he’s not really an honors kind of guy. 

Peter feels his backpack vibrate. He ignores it, and several other vibrations until he gets to geography class. He opens his bag and pulls out his phone. 

Pepper Potts- Hey kid, I’ll be taking you home from school today  
Pepper Potts- We can go for ice cream.   
Pepper Potts- Dad’s a little busy right now, so you get stuck with me :)

Peter- Sounds good

Peter had yet to change Pepper’s name in his phone. It was still the basic Pepper Potts. But in all honesty, he didn’t know what to call her. He could play it on the cool end and just keep it as Pepper and he definitely wasn’t in for ‘Mom’ yet. So he left it as is until he could come up with something. 

For some reason he was expecting Dad to text him. Say something like, “Sorry I couldn’t take you home, swamped with work.” But nothing came. It worried him. So he sent another quick text. 

Peter- Is dad okay?

……

She’s probably making up a lie, Peter had to think. He didn’t know what she would be lying about. If she said that he was just working, then he was in trouble. But if she said something else… Peter didn’t really know what to think. Would she be telling the truth or lying. Because Peter is accustomed to Tony working long hours, and Pepper might think that it’s not good for him. 

Pepper Potts- He had a panic attack. He needs to rest and shouldn’t be working or driving. Sorry.

Peter- Oh, thanks for telling the truth

Peter thought that she was telling the truth. He believed her. And that’s not really an easy task to get by Peter. Just think back to any moment in this twelve- soon to be thirteen-year old’s life and you will find someone lying to him. Steve telling him that Dad was just on a work trip or Nat telling Peter that he was staying over because ‘Dad and Pop are on a date’ when in fact they were working through custody agreements. 

“Pepper I’m fine, this happens and I’m fine,” Tony said. Pepper had sat him down on the couch. She came to the compound to see Tony on the kitchen floor hyperventilating. This isn’t the first time she’s had to help him through this. 

“You aren’t fine. I’m going to take you home,” Pepper said. “Do I need to call Doctor Rein?” Tony’s therapist. Tony shook his head. He had taken his emergency medication, but only because Pepper made him. 

“I have to take Peter home from school,” Tony said in a drowsy tone. 

“It’s been taken care of,” Pepper said. She started to wonder where Bucky and Steve are. Not of the matter. 

Pepper got Tony into the car and drove home. She got him into bed, gave him a sleep aid, and turned the lights out. She went downstairs and sent some emails. Mostly emails about the wedding. In better news, she finally got her dress ordered. It was a dress that she would have dreamed about as a kid. She was getting the bridesmaid dresses now. Their color theme was a reddish color. Her maid of honor, Natasha, was bound to be head to toe in red. She had a dress that went to her ankles with white accents. The other bridesmaids; Wanda, Okoye, Nebula, and Jane Foster; had shorter red dresses. 

She grabbed the car keys and got ready to pick Peter up. Tony’s Audi was being used today. What Pepper did not expect was the size of the line when she arrived at the school. It was another fifteen minutes before she could see him running towards her. He opened the door and threw himself in. 

“How was school?” Pepper asked. She didn’t really know what to ask him, so she went with the usual. 

“It was pretty good actually,” Peter replied. 

“Any trouble with that boy? Flash?” Peter shook his head. There really wasn’t any trouble today. He barely even saw Flash, except for in science class. 

“Is Dad okay?” Peter asked. Pepper thought for a minute what she should tell him. 

“I gave him a sleep aid, so hopefully he’s resting-”

“Was it about Afghanistan?” Peter blurted. Pepper was speechless. She could tell the truth and tell this twelve year old boy that his father still had panic attacks from something that happened eight years ago. 

“We didn’t really talk about it. Your guess is as good as mine.” The rest of the drive was in silence. They pulled into the driveway, Peter running inside. Running upstairs, he stopped to throw his backpack into his room before going into Tony’s room a bit slower. 

“Dad?” Peter whispered. He saw Tony sitting up in bed. His Dad smiled upon seeing him. Peter came and stood next to him. “Are you okay?” Peter asked. 

“I just- I got some bad memories from Afghanistan. Freaked me out, I think your Pops remembered something today as well,” Tony said. Peter’s shoes fell to the floor as he jumped up next to his Dad. 

“Are you okay?” Peter restated the question because Tony refused to answer. He didn’t like to say that he wasn’t okay. 

“Not really, but I’m doing better now that you’re here. Not let’s stop talking about all this mushy stuff and watch some movies. I’m thinking… Greatest Showman,” Tony grabbed the TV remote and turned the movie on. This film is a favorite in the Stark-Potts household. It contains at least one element that everyone loves. For Peter, the swinging acrobatics and singing. For Pepper, the dramatic struggles. And for Tony, the romance. 

A few minutes into the movie, Pepper peeked her head through the door. “I love this movie!” She shouted, immediately being shushed by two boys. She sat down next to Tony and watched the movie with them. They sang along to all of the songs, but Peter most.

\----

Clint ran through the darkened hallways, shooting arrows into the Hydra agents that tried to attack him. It was cold. Really cold. But that’s what he gets for signing up for the ‘make sure nothing’s up’ mission in Siberia. He had taken down about ten of them so far, thankfully he brought more arrows. 

Not like he would know, but the hallway felt quiet. He had a feeling that it was an eerie kind of quiet. The hallway only got colder as he trekked down it. A minute later, no more hostiles could be found, and he walked into a room that was even colder and even darker. He looked around and tapped his wrist. A video call to Nat started. He didn’t dare speak. Instead, he used ASL. 

“Get down here, you’re going to want to see this.”


	6. these new legs can really pack a punch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter does an oh no

American history. By far one of Peter’s least favorite classes. Nothing against learning the history of your country, but it’s just downright boring. And to make matters worse, they have a new teacher. The old one is out while they tend to their recently birthed spawn. So for an unannounced amount of time, Peter is stuck with Mr. Henderson. And isn’t he excited to continue learning about World War Two. 

He sat at his desk and started doodling. The bell rang moments later. Mr. Henderson stood at the front of the classroom and began to teach. 

“Good morning class, today is going to be one of our more fun days! We will be learning about one of the coolest figures from World War 2, Captain America!” Peter internally groaned. This guy obviously didn’t know who was in his class. He recruited a student to pass around a worksheet. Just the standard stuff, a matching game and a fill in the blank. 

Peter hates these, barely any of these ‘fact sheets’ are ever factual. So he just puts in the regular stuff. The projector turns on and a photo of Peter’s dad came on. It was before the super soldier serum. 

“This is Steve Rogers, but you guys will probably know him from his comic books and movies. Before he became Captain America, he was just this little scrawny guy,” Mr. Henderson said, “He was born on the fourth of July, 1918 in his mother’s apartment in Brooklyn, quite a fitting day if you ask me.” Peter just died a little on the inside. “His father, Joseph Rogers, died from mustard gas poisoning while serving our country in World War One. His mother raised him while she worked to put him through all twelve years of schooling.” 

Peter didn’t realize it but he audibly groaned. The room was quiet, and for Peter true silence is rare. 

“Excuse me, do you have an objection to today’s lesson?” Peter just gave up. He wasn’t going to play the ‘I’m sorry, my mistake’ route. 

“It’s just, none of that stuff is right,” Peter said. 

“What do you mean, um,” he took a moment to look at the seating chart, “Peter?” 

“Steve Rogers wasn’t born in Brooklyn, and he wasn’t born in America either. His birthday isn’t the fourth of July and his Dad didn’t have a choice in fighting for our country!” Peter was near screaming by the time he was done. 

“And how would you know any of this, Peter? You are being very disrespectful. What is your surname, I will contact your parents.” Peter didn’t audibly groan this time, but boy was he close What is your surname? Peter’s stomach fluttered. It was always the first reaction.   
“My name is Peter, uh….” Peter considered just lying and saying he was Peter Parker, just taking the low road. 

“Peter what? I’m losing my patience here,” Mr. Henderson said. 

“Peter Parker Stark-Rogers.” The room went quiet again. The whispers stopped. He unclipped his student ID and handed it to the teacher. He observed it for a moment before giving it back. 

“Apologies, Mr. Stark-Rogers. Last names are not on my seating chart,” he said. Peter sat back in his seat, cheeks on fire. He was so very embarrassed about this whole ordeal. Rule number one of being Peter is to not tell people who your parents are. Falling through the floor sounded pretty good right about now. 

He rode out the rest of that class period as best he could. Basically just avoiding Mr. Henderson as much as possible. He didn't know anything about him other than that he shared a last name with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. That didn’t really mean anything, did it?

But when the bell rang, he was so relieved he could die. He walked down the hallway, relishing in the fact that the class was over. But someone decided to screw this victory walk up. He hit the block walls of the hallways with an umph. 

“Afternoon, Flash.” 

“You’re just asking for it now? Telling everyone about your two dads, your faggot dads. You are just asking for this,” Flash threw a punch to Peter’s cheek. He could punch back, he should punch back. But he doesn’t know what all that spider did to him. He has muscles now. He could really hurt him. So he let Flash keep going, and he does know how stupid that idea is. His eye was hit now. That’s going to leave a mark, Peter thought. Flash kicked him in the shin, that one hurt. When he kicked his shin, his foot flinched out and kicked Flash. 

“Holy shit, Penis. You learned how to fight, maybe you want to get a few in?” Flash punched Peter in the nose again. 

“In my office, now,” Principal Morita’s voice rang through the hallways. Flash took his hands off of Peter’s shoulders and did the hurt act. 

“Mr. Morita, he kicked me! My-ow- shin,” Flash said. Peter naturally assumed that he was exaggerating, but with these new ‘powers’, he didn’t know how much he could actually hurt someone. So he followed Flash and Principal Morita into the office. He sat down in the left seat and Flash in the right. Mr. Mortia settled himself at his desk. 

“So, I think you boys know why you are here,” he said. “We do not tolerate fighting or bullying here at Midtown. I’m going to have to call your parents in,” that comment hit Peter hard. Calling the parents was more than an empty threat. “I will call them, please wait in there,” he pointed to the main office area. There were some chairs there, so he sat and waited. The nurse handed him an ice pack for his eye. It was fifteen minutes before Flash’s parents arrived. 

“Is mother not going to be here?” Flashed asked his dad. 

“Your parents are not available at such short notice, Mr. Thompson.” Peter guessed that he isn’t Flash’s dad. They went into Mr. Morita’s office while Peter prayed that Pepper would be the parent. But then again, Pepper isn’t listed as an emergency contact. He turns his head and sees Steve signing in. Peter tried not to lock eyes with him, but failed. 

“Hey Pete, wanna tell me why I’m here?” Steve said to Peter. Peter stood up and readjusted his ice pack before going into Mr. Morita’s office. 

“Afternoon, Mr. Rogers. Please take a seat.” Steve sat down in one of the chairs. “So, less than an hour ago I broke up Peter and Flash fighting. With your parents, or butler present, will you boys explain what happened.” Peter stayed silent. 

“Peter nailed me in the shin! Look, it’s already bruised!” Flash yelled. Principal Morita motioned him to stop talking. 

“Mr. Rogers, Mr, um- thompson? We have a no-tolerance policy for bullying and violence. Based on the situation, both boys will have a two day suspension. This will go on their records.” Steve was staring Peter down with a death stare. 

“Thank you Mr. Morita, this won’t happen again,” Steve said. “Now Peter, go wait in the car. I’m going to have a word with your principal,” Peter nodded and left the office. Flash and his butler also left, in silence. Flash looked pretty angry, his arms crossed and lip sticking out. He even faked a limp, although Peter didn’t know if it was a fake or not. On their way out, Peter said some words to Flash. 

“Did I really hurt you?” Peter said. He noticed that Flash was eyeing the ice pack that was being held against Peter’s eye. 

“A little, but I’m sorry for beating you up,” Flash said before getting into a car that was almost on the level of Peter’s father with the butler. Peter got into Steve’s car, wondering what was going on back in the principal’s office. 

“Morita? I guess that would make this guy your grandfather,” Steve said, picking up a framed photo that was on a shelf in the office. Jim Morita, basically the reason that Peter avoids going to the principal’s office as much as possible. When there are photos up all over the place with your father, mainly the photos that are displayed in your house as well. 

“Yeah, he was a really good guy. You would know,” Morita said. Steve observed the photo. It wasn’t one that was commonly found in textbooks, but a more personal one. In the center were Jim and Bucky, with Dum Dum and the others behind them. “I took this picture,” Steve whispered to himself. His voice was soft enough that it could not be heard by the other man. 

“I apologize for my son’s behavior earlier today. He will be punished at home as well. Thank you, for everything.” Steve shook the principal’s hand before leaving. As per usual, he got a few strange looks on his way out. He opened the door to the driver’s seat and got in. Running his hands through his hair, he let out an involuntary sigh. 

“Petey, I didn’t think we would have to do this. We- your father and I- we didn’t think that you would be the kid who would be in the principal’s office for getting in fights. Two day suspension, good work there,” Steve said. He put the car in drive and turned out of the parking lot. 

“You’re going home, Bucky’s there. Tomorrow and the day after you will be at the compound. No phone, computer, or friends over. Do you hear me?” Steve turned to Peter, locking eyes with him as he got on the road. 

“Did you tell Dad?” Peter asked. Steve shook his head. 

“I was at the compound with him. His phone was next to mine and it started ringing with your school’s number. I took it, because I had a little feeling. I told him I had some errands to run, but he’ll find out later.” Peter put his hands on his face. “Are you not going to reason with me? Tell me that the principal was wrong, that you were the victim?” 

“I could, but what’s the point? I did hurt him, and yeah he did hurt me. But I really knocked him off his feet.” Peter touched his eye, the stinging flowing through his body. It hurt like hell. 

“Was it his fault? Did he start the fight?” Peter sighed and nodded. “I guessed,” Steve replied. Peter practically zoned out for the rest of the drive to Steve’s house. The memory of the fight was replaying in his head. Just the sound of Flash punching his nose and the crunching sounds he heard. It wasn’t bones, he could tell it wasn’t bones. He was with him when Ned broke his leg. They could hear the snap as the bone came out of his leg. It wasn’t his bones breaking, but he does feel all the pain from every punch. That made Peter think, maybe this enhanced sensitivity thing works both ways. Yeah, it works both ways. 

“You hurting, Pete?” Steve looked to his son. Peter nodded. “I’ll get you some ice and painkillers when we get inside.” The car pulled into Steve’s driveway. Peter slung his backpack across his shoulders and opened the door. First sighting Bucky, who was reading on the couch with Alpine in his lap. 

“Hi Bucky,” Peter said. Bucky greeted back before doing a double take. 

“Why are you home? It isn’t even lunch yet. Are you ill?” Peter shook his head. Steve now stood behind him. 

“It seems now that young Peter is taking after his older parent, he got suspended today.” Bucky’s eyes widened at the statement. 

“I guess you are right. Did you get into a fight?” Peter nodded again before putting his things in his bedroom. He sat down on the bed and ran his through his hair. A knock on the doorframe brought his attention to his Pop standing there. 

“Hey, I know the fight wasn’t your fault, but I’ll still need your computer and phone. Here’s some tylenol and ice too.” Peter opened his backpack and grabbed his phone and put it in Steve’s hand, along with his laptop. “Put that on your eye, I don’t want that getting any worse.” Steve put the ice pack in his hand and up to Peter’s eye. Kissing his forehead, Steve started to feel bad for the kid. It wasn’t his fault that someone started attacking him. But he did kick him, or Steve thought that Peter kicked him. 

Steve left him alone. Peter flopped down on the bed, holding the ice to his eye. Though Peter wasn’t alone long. Just minutes later a certain white fluffball jumped onto the bed. 

“Al? What are you doing in here?” Peter said to the cat while petting her. She curled onto Peter’s chest. Of course, she didn’t respond because she is a cat. She just meowed, a pleasant sound that Peter enjoyed. “Did you ever get into fights, Al? Probably not, you are quite the homebody if I’ve ever met one.” Alpine once again rubbed herself on Peter’s shoulder. “I think I hurt him, Al. I don’t want to be like this. I want to go back to when I couldn’t hurt people.” He hugged the cat, tears dampening her white fur. 

“Hey kid,” Bucky’s voice rang through the door frame. “Can I sit?” He pointed to the bed, Peter nodding. Bucky came in and sat next to him. “I know it’s no fun getting grounded, especially when it’s not your fault.” 

“How would you know? I bet you’ve never been suspended because someone beat you up and your foot slipped and you hurt them!” Peter ended up yelling, not knowing that he was. 

“I know because I had to pay for something that other people did to me. Yes I hurt people, but after a couple years of therapy I finally realized that it wasn’t my fault. But I still had to pay for what they did to me. So yeah, I get it.” 

“Oh, I forgot about that, sorry.” 

“I’m over it, how did Al get in here?” Bucky pet his cat, making her come over to him. 

“After… well everything, I wouldn’t use my left arm. I was so afraid of hurting people that I wouldn’t even use it. I would keep it at my side, even if people started fighting me. If I got mugged, I could barely fight back. That’s…. How your Dad found me again.” Peter looked down at Bucky’s metal arm. He couldn’t imagine him not using it. Now, he uses it all the time. Peter will see him making breakfast and petting Alpine with it. 

“Maybe it was my fault though, maybe if I didn’t kick him, I wouldn’t be here. And I wouldn’t have hurt him,” Peter said. 

“Maybe it was, but I have a feeling that it wasn’t,” Bucky gave Peter a hug before leaving. Alpine stayed with Peter. He sat there in his room for what he guessed was a couple hours. Then Steve came inside. 

“Hey Pete, Dad is coming over for dinner. And before you ask, it is so we can explain what happened today.” 

“Is Pepper coming?” Steve nodded. 

“Yeah, now come help make dinner,” Steve said. Peter jumped out of bed and went with Steve to the kitchen. He started working on the noodles. Steve made sushi because believe it or not, he is a fantastic cook. Bucky was… well Bucky set the table but then got distracted and started playing with Alpine. 

“Bucky, dear, please, she’s fine. Just finish setting the table. Five, please.” Bucky got up, leaving the toy with Alpine. He put the plates and napkins together. 

“Does dad even know that I’m here? Oh no, what if he thinks that I’m lost or got taken. It’s his day! It’s a weekday!” Peter was about to start freaking out even more when Steve put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Don’t worry, you were supposed to go to Ned’s after school. I called Ned’s mother and told her that you couldn’t make it. You can calm down now,” Steve said. Peter took a deep breath. He emptied the noodles in a colander, then plating them. Bucky finished setting the table, immediately going back to his cat. 

“Oh Alpine, you are the sweetest. Not as sweet as Sarah or Stevie, but you are the sweetest!” Bucky said to the fluffball of white. Peter turned to Steve, washing his hands. 

“Who’s Sarah?” Peter whispered. Steve looked at Bucky with sad eyes, then turned back to Peter. 

“Your grandmother, my mom. Sometimes he forgets,” Steve said. He dried his hands on the towel. The doorbell rang, making Peter nearly shake out of his socks. 

“They’re here. Oh no, Pop I don’t want to tell Dad what happened!” 

“Well you have to,” Steve said. He went to the door and opened it, faced with Tony and Pepper. 

“Good evening Steve,” Pepper said. Steve brought them inside. 

“Peter? What are you doing here, I thought you were at Ned’s,” Tony said. 

“We will talk about this later, but first, we made dinner!” Steve showed the couple to the table with plates of sushi and noodles. 

“Steve you didn’t have to make something so fancy just for us,” Pepper said. Steve shrugged with his hands in his pockets. 

“It’s nothing, and I quite enjoy cooking.” Steve pulled out a chair for Bucky, then taking the seat next to him. Peter was somewhat disappointed that his other parent was at this dinner, amongst other things they didn’t say grace. Usually when he was with just Steve and Bucky they would pray before meals. Later in his life, Peter would say that he is half Catholic. But in all honesty, Peter likes praying and going to church with his Pop. 

“So, would one of you like to explain why Peter is not at a friend’s house but here,” Tony said. Peter clenched every muscle in his body, he was not anticipating this moment, telling his father that is. 

“Peter has been suspended from school for two and a half days. He was in a fight today,” Steve said. Tony put his fork down, perhaps a bit too loud. 

“You what?” Pepper said, interjecting Tony. 

“Flash kind of… uh… beat me up, and I kicked him,” Peter said. He hid his face behind his hands in embarrassment. 

“Well I guess you are like your father aren’t you,” Tony said. He glared Steve down. 

“I’m really sorry Dad, I didn’t mean to kick him. Pop took my phone and computer,” Peter said. 

“It’s alright, Pete, you will face your punishment and then go back to school. I’m not going to call you the victim or the one to blame, but Flash isn’t a good guy. Stay away from him. Now I am going to eat,” Tony said. 

Peter smiled, the weight of having to tell dad being lifted off his shoulders. He started digging into his food, scarfing down more than five rolls of sushi before even getting to his other food. He went in for more sushi and once he looked up he saw his family staring at him. 

“You that hungry, Pete?” Steve asked. Peter looked down at his plate and realized how much he was eating. 

“I guess so,” Peter said in a wary tone. He hadn’t seen any other side effects of the spider bite other than the strength. He probably has some increased metabolism like Pop. Steve always eats a lot because of his serum. 

“You’re almost eating as much as your father,” Pepper laughed. They were smiling, but Peter wasn’t. He was scared. Scared of what else could have happened. Yes, he sticks to things. Yes, he could have killed flash with a single punch. And yes, he has begun to eat like a cow. But with all those things, Peter doesn’t know what else could happen to him. 

They finished eating after a couple more minutes. Bucky left to wash the dishes with Peter. Peter did the washing and Bucky put the plates away. Steve and Tony went to the living room to talk

“How’s he doing,” Tony said, looking at Bucky. Steve looked toward the older man as well. 

“Better. He still forgets things, but that’s just something that we’ll always have to deal with. But we haven’t had any other seizures since the last one.” Steve unconsciously rubbed his forehead. “I love him so much, Tony. It’s so hard to see him like this. His doctors- they-uh- they don’t think that there’s a way we can fix it.” The two looked over at Peter and Bucky. The childlike wonder in Bucky’s eyes almost made Steve cry. 

“It hurts Tony,” Steve said. Tony put his hand on Steve’s. “I thought that once we got him back, really got him back that everything would go back to being okay. But I’ll never get that Bucky back. Never.” Steve’s face fell into Tony’s shoulder. 

“He loves you, just as much as he did back then. And I can see how much you love him. And hey,” Tony grasped Steve’s shoulders to move his face in front of his own, “maybe Peter will have three Dads one day.” 

Steve laughed.


End file.
